Threats by Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta of major
technical rule changes for next year have been
put on hold, with promised co-operation from the
factories and early success of the CRT generation
taking the heat off the plans.
At the last GP at Valencia last year, Ezpeleta put
a deadline of June this year for agreement on major
cost-cutting changes, to be implemented as soon as
2013. Proposals included a control ECU, a rev limit,
a budget cap and one bike per rider for MotoGP.
Some might be introduced next year, but
major changes will not come now until 2015, FIM
president Vito Ippolito told GPWEEK.
IRTA president Hervé Poncharal confirmed that
threats had receded as the factories and racing
management sought common ground:
“The situation is confusing,” he said. “But what
was said at Valencia is no longer the case.”
The factories had invested heavily in the current
generation of 1000cc bikes, and they would be able
to race them under more or less current regulations
for 2013 and 2014, said Poncharal.
“The objective now is for new rules for 2015 that
will be the same for everybody – there will be no
more dual category of factory bike and CRT,” he
said.
Takanao Tsubouchi, spokesman for the MSMA
(manufacturers’ association) explained that
continuing discussions were leading towards a
more reasoned solution.
“The objective of Dorna and the manufacturers is
the same, but the time scale is different. We need
time to adjust to big changes,” he said.
The one-bike rule would possibly be adopted, he
said, although it was still under discussion. but
bigger changes would have to wait.
Production-based CRT bikes were introduced
to build up grid numbers, while threats to bring in
swingeing further cost-cutting regulations were
interpreted as a threat to future factory involvement.
This threat seems to have receded, with Suzuki
continuing with plans to return in 2014
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